The invention relates generally to welding systems, and, more particularly, to a welding wire feeder with a multiple drive motor standard.
Welding is a process that has become increasingly ubiquitous in various industries and applications. Such welding operations rely on a variety of types of equipment to ensure the supply of welding consumables (e.g., wire feed, shielding gas, etc) is provided to the weld in an appropriate amount at the desired time. For example, metal inert gas (MIG) welding typically relies on a wire feeder to ensure the appropriate advance of welding wire to a welding torch, with the wire establishing the welding arc and being consumed as welding progresses.
In MIG systems, the wire feeding needs for a given welding application may vary depending on a variety of factors such as the type of wire used, the size of the wire spool, the physical characteristics of the wire, the length and type of torch and torch cable, the temperature of the welding process, the type of welding process, and so forth. Consequently, a variety of drive motors may be employed to meet various wire feed needs. For example, wire feeders may be purchased with a high speed, low speed, standard speed, or high torque motor for different wire feed needs. Unfortunately, end users cannot always identify these wire feed needs initially or may change between significantly different welding tasks, and sometimes need to change the wire feed characteristics using a different drive motor for a specific application. While end users may have the option to use an upgrade or conversion kit to change the drive motor of a wire feeder in the field, the use of an upgrade or conversion kit may be costly and problematic. More specifically, wire feeders typically require different circuit board assemblies with different software for different motors to operate properly.